You Again
by godtierGrammarian
Summary: A collection of drabbles starring Link and Midna as they drag Zelda into all kinds of mischief. Takes place in the same AU as You. Ch2: Someone yells "Water fight!" and it was exactly what everyone was thinking. Rated T for some language.
1. At the Zoo

Midna's perfect morning is ruined by a stranger in a sun hat.

Or at least, she thinks it's a stranger until they open the blinds and ruin her plans to sleep until noon. She shies away from the sudden flood of light, covering her face with her sheets, but not before she recognizes the intruder for who they are: which is, of course, Zelda. No one else has the gall to invade Midna's comfortably dark lair before afternoon hits, much less fling open the curtains and expose its admittedly messy floors to the light of day. And even if they did, they wouldn't dare do it in a fashionable sun hat, sunglasses, sundress, and sandals, looking like the literal embodiment of light itself.

Irritation and fear battle within Midna as she peeps out from beneath her blankets to challenge the intruder to her domain. She musters a glare, but Zelda removes her sunglasses to look down at her with the regalest, most unimpressed expectancy Midna has ever had the misfortune to meet before nine a.m.

It's a face she knows all too well. It's the face of forgotten obligations come to haunt her.

"Ugh, you again," Midna groans, and pulls the covers over her head again. "What now?" she mutters muffledly from the safety of darkness.

"Don't tell me you forgot," Zelda sighs.

Beneath her sheets, Midna screws up her face resentfully, though Zelda can't see it. "Go away."

"You promised Link we'd meet him at the zoo."

"No, I didn't." Midna genuinely has no recollection of such a promise, so she's not going to feel bad about not keeping it. Still, she knows Zelda's not above stealing the covers if she's not careful, so she wraps herself in her sheets and makes sure to put her weight on one side so she can't be disturbed.

She thwarted one plan, but Zelda's not about to give up. "You promised," she persists, and Midna can hear her walk around the side of the bed. Midna pulls the blankets more firmly over her ears and mutters, "No."

"Midna, please."

"Fuck you, go away." In the relative dark of her blanket cocoon, Midna can almost imagine falling asleep again. Promise or no, it's a Saturday morning, and Saturdays belong to her. She is not getting out of this bed. End of story.

"Midna." The tone of Zelda's voice has changed from Stern Mom to Desperation. Now one of two things will follow, begging or bribery. Though Midna still has no intention of moving, she listens carefully. She can play this to her advantage.

"We're doing this for Link."

Nah. He's the one who kept her up all night texting. He should know better than to expect her to rise and shine this early. In fact, he does know better, and he doesn't hold grudges for long. If she passes this one up, he can easily be appeased later, with kisses or shiny objects.

"You've never been to this zoo."

So what? It's a zoo. It probably has monkeys and lions and penguins, like every other zoo. Besides, zoos mean walking, and walking means work. Midna does not work on Saturdays. She's made up her mind to wait it out until Zelda leaves, until it occurs to her that animals aren't the only thing at zoos. There are rides and...

"I'll buy you Dippin' Dots."

Bingo. Midna flings the blankets off and swings herself around to sit on the edge of the bed, legs dangling against the edge of the mattress. She rests her chin in her hands and looks at Zelda with an expression equal parts saccharine and devious. "I'm listening," she says, flashing her Death Grin.

Zelda drums her fingers on her hip. "I... I'll get you something at the gift shop."

Ah, man, that's really tempting. They've got great stuff at zoo gift shops. Shelves upon shelves of ridiculously unhealthy candy, key chains with every name in the world on them besides Midna's, and best of all, HUGE stuffed animals, like, life-sized giraffes and shit. Midna can work with this.

" _Anything_ at the gift shop?" she asks.

Zelda purses her lips, and finally sighs. "Within reason."

"Pff, of course," Midna grins.

"And you have to pay me back later." They both know that's never going to happen, but Zelda has to at least try.

Ah, well. This is an acceptable bribe. Midna sticks out one hand. "Promise?"

"Promise."

They shake on it, and Midna leaps from her bed, images of Dippin' Dots dancing in her head. Now to get ready, which doesn't take longer than five minutes. She fell asleep in her clothes last night, and after a quick glance in the mirror she deems her attire passable, if not more than a little wrinkled. This is her favorite shirt, and it's not like anyone's going to care if she wears it three days in a row. She doesn't dare venture into the death trap that is her closet (she hasn't cleaned it in years, probably), so she digs around under the bed until she finds two mismatched flip flops (close enough). After running a brush through her hair and shoving her phone in her back pocket, she takes the stairs two at a time and waits for Zelda by the front door (the Princess descends the stairs more gracefully, of course).

"We're meeting Link there," Zelda says as Midna locks the door behind them.

"How late are we?" Midna asks as they climb into Zelda's white VW beetle. It's tiny but somehow impeccably clean, making Midna's rusty van look like a literal dump.

"We were supposed to be there at eight thirty," Zelda says darkly, turning a bit recklessly out of the driveway. Midna glances at the clock (nine thirteen) and grins, knowing just how much Zelda hates to be late.

This ought to be a fun ride.

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They make it to the zoo in record time, though not before nine thirty hits. Midna spends the first five minutes texting Link to tell him they're on their way, and, when he doesn't reply, spends the rest of the time text bombing his phone, concluding that since he isn't responding, his phone must be off (God, he never has it on when he should, the scrub). Once they find a parking spot, Midna reluctantly pockets her phone and follows Zelda to the entrance. There's no sign of Link anywhere, so Zelda decides he must have gone in without them and is probably waiting for them on a bench somewhere, so they should probably just go in and look for him. Midna looks with unhappiness at the long ticket lines, but instead of waiting in the regular admittance line, Zelda walks confidently up to a smaller booth, flashes her membership card, and the lady waves them through. Zelda snags a map on her way and presses it into Midna's hands.

"What are you, a VIP?" Midna splutters, but Zelda just says, "Read the map," so Midna unfolds the map and studies the glossy paper at arm's length, taking careful note of all the little Dippin' Dots icons. The closest one is in the African Savannah area, and there are two more, in the Asian Adventure and Australian Outback areas, respectively. (Midna resolves to hit them all.)

After checking all the benches in the main entrance area, Link's still nowhere to be found. Zelda purses her lips, her hands resting on her hips, and looks at Midna. "What do you think?"

Midna sends a few more texts, to no avail. "I guess we're playing hide and seek." Zelda looks a little put off, but Midna just smiles and smacks her shoulder lightly. "Come on, it'll be fun, and we can yell at him when we find him."

She takes off for Africa and Dippin' Dots, the map at arm's length, and Zelda follows, shaking her head, a smile forming on her lips despite herself.

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They don't get very far along the path to the African exhibits before Midna spots the sky ride and immediately demands to ride it. Zelda looks with trepidation at the bench seats swinging high above the hill and almost refuses, but before she knows it she finds herself in front of the token machine, fumbling with her change purse (It's hard to say no to Midna sometimes). They take off their shoes and tuck them in the provided cubbies (signs all around them declare open-toed shoes a no) and then they're off, moving slowly along the wire with their bare feet dangling from the bench. Midna is tempted to rock the seat, but looking at Zelda's pale face and the way she clutches the safety bar, she decides not to (if it were Link she wouldn't have hesitated for a heartbeat, but then again Link usually refuses to ride things like this, anyway).

Once the ride is over and they've reclaimed their shoes, they wander past the lions and the monkeys (Midna secures some Dippin' Dots at a stand by the giraffes for $3.75, which Zelda forks over without too much complaint) and then, finding no sign of Link, they head on to the Asian exhibits, passing the penguins and sea lions on the way (Midna takes some selfies with the animals and sends them to Link, just to add on to the mess of texts he's already going to find when he turns on his phone).

When they get to the Asian Adventure, there's a pony ride which Zelda refuses to let Midna ride ("You'd terrorize the kids. And the ponies.") so they head off down the path through the fake jungle (some speakers disguised as rocks make spooky noises, which Midna imitates, raucous and sarcastically). There's an orangutan and some tigers and a _huge_ snake (Midna loves it and doesn't want to leave its exhibit) and then some butterflies and a komodo dragon and some poison dart frogs, and still no sign of Link. They pass another Dippin' Dots stand and Zelda refuses to pay for another, so Midna (groaning all the while) digs out her own wallet and gets a different flavor.

Link's still nowhere to be found, so they wander the zoo, past the wallabies and the aviary and the American animals (Midna swears he'd be at the wolf exhibit, but it's closed for renovation and so they decide maybe he's with the dingos, that's close enough). Off they walk to Australia, where there are a bunch of lizards and some really hilarious-looking birds (tawny frogmouths, apparently; Midna takes more selfies) and an aquarium (Midna makes faces at the jellyfish and the sharks, and Zelda sits by the main tank and watches the colorful, less dangerous fish until they're both ready to leave). Then they head toward the kangaroos and the dingos (still no Link, but Midna scores another container of Dippin' Dots and is now officially broke).

They ride the train (Midna races for the seat at the back of the train, the one facing backward, and when the train passes through a tunnel, whoops to hear the echo and to scare the kids; Zelda whacks her lightly but laughs. When the train passes through the tunnel again on its way back to the station, Midna sings "Secret tunnel, secret tunnel," and looks at Zelda, who gets the reference immediately and even joins in). Next they wander the farm, where they pet baby chicks (Midna would have smuggled one home in her pocket if it didn't require work to care for and if her room weren't a disaster area). The farm is also home to a hive of bees, which Midna won't go near, but Zelda spots the queen behind the glass. Next they feed goats that try to eat Midna's pants (she lets out a very ungainly squawk) and a big horse that lets Zelda pet it, to her delight, and then there are some llamas for some reason (Midna takes a selfie with one and it poses obligingly).

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Finally there's the gift shop, the main event. They both forget about the still-missing Link when they enter the air-conditioned store, with its towering shelves of stuffed animals and clothes, flimsy toys and candy. After much debate, Midna finally selects a huge stuffed animal shark (it's probably three feet long and costs almost fifty bucks), and Zelda almost refuses to buy it, but Midna whines ("You _promised_!") so she finds herself in the check-out line, her wallet in hand. "You owe me big time," she mutters to Midna, but the other girl's gone (after a few seconds she reappears, racing from the candy racks with her fists full). Before Zelda can stop her, Midna dumps her armful of loot on the counter (rock candy and a couple gigantic lollipops). Zelda begrudgingly pays, and they leave the gift shop, shark and candy in tow (Zelda notes resignedly that her wallet is considerably lighter).

Only then do they find Link, sitting on a bench outside the gift shop with an ice cream cone dripping down his arms (having already eaten one of his own, he offers it to Midna, saying he saved it for her, but she declines, so he shrugs and eats it in two bites).

"Why didn't you answer your phone, you doofus?" Midna demands (there's a glint in her eye and Zelda remembers earlier's text bombing).

Link just smiles and shrugs sheepishly. "It died," he says simply, and Midna yells at him good-naturedly to actually charge it for once. He feigns hurt, but brightens easily when Midna drops a few sticks of rock candy in his lap. He struggles with the wrappers and holds the candy up to Midna, who mutters, "Don't look at me," so he turns to Zelda wearing his best puppy eyes.

"What am I, your mother?" Zelda sighs, but tears the plastic wrappers open for him. This garners her a winning smile, and she sighs again and smiles back (damn his adorable looks).

After a while, it becomes clear to them that another party wants to use the bench (two kids chase each other around their grandfather's legs, and the poor man just stands there, his arms laden with gift shop bags, and casts longing glances at the bench), so they get up with some reluctance to leave.

"So," Zelda says, once they've migrated toward the parking lot. "Now what?"

Her shark under one arm, Midna pauses in unwrapping her giant lollipop and looks up. She purses her lips, thinking, then glances at Link, who somehow seems to get what she's thinking at once. They turn to Zelda and Midna says, like she's trying not to seem too excited even though she is, "Pizza?"

Ugh, she should have known. Zelda swings her head back and moans, "And how do you propose we pay for it?"

They grin sheepishly (Link brings out the puppy eyes again, and Midna even tries to mimic him) and finally Zelda digs out her wallet, flips through it, and mutters, "One pizza. That's all I've got."

"What about breadsticks?" Link blurts out, and Zelda sets her jaw.

"Maybe," she says finally. "If you're lucky."

Celebration breaks out behind her, and Zelda just marches toward her car. "But you're definitely paying me back for this, got it?"

In the end they settle on a pizza place, and Link pinky swears he'll cover the costs later, and they bundle into their cars. Midna decides to ride with Link, and they speed past Zelda in his car, Midna hollering gleefully out the window, "See you there, slowpoke!"

Zelda just smiles despite everything they put her through and thinks they're pretty damn lucky she's their friend. But then again, she's pretty lucky to be theirs.

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 **A/N: Forgive me for this. It's cheesier than the pizza they're going to get.**

 **Story time: I wanted to go to the zoo today but couldn't, so I sent the cast of "You" there instead. It was originally to be titled "Pretty Damn Lucky," but... rules say titles must be rated K ( _siiiigh_ ), so I was left with the rather uncreative "You Again." I was tempted to call it "Missing Link," but I might save that for something a bit angstier.**

 **At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this. I like giving poor, underrated TP Zelda the spotlight (even though Midna inevitably steals it from her). These three are my favorite kids in the entire world, and I don't think I'll ever stop writing about them so long as they give me something to write about.**

 **Reviews are much appreciated (and so are favorites)!**

 **Yours truly,**

 **godtierGrammarian**


	2. Water Fight

**I: Allegiances**

The day dawns hot but not sticky, and as the sun ascends to the peak of the sky, someone shouts "Water fight!" and it's exactly what everyone was thinking.

Link and Midna team up, of course (they're winning, the perfect team, totally in sync with each other when they're into it; although they're usually not, Midna's often seen chasing after Link pelting him relentlessly with her squirt gun, and he's laughing with his hands in the air, saying "Quit it!" but not really meaning it).

Zelda joins forces with Link's little brother Colin and his friend Luda (they're hiding in the bushes, sniping people strategically, exchanging high fives after every victory; they're the ones actively trying to take down Link and Midna and arguably the best ones for the job; they eventually make a treaty with the other teams to take Link and Midna down but get ambushed from the treehouse with water balloons and are forced to retreat).

Talo and Beth, two of Colin's other friends from down the street, formed an alliance (trying to be stealthy but failing pretty badly, they get chased from their hiding places every time, shrieking with laughter, and then they choose another bad hideout, and Beth's giggling the whole time and Talo just smirks).

Talo's little brother Malo and the Gordon brothers Ebizo and Liggs, who live on the corner, are more whispered about than seen (waiting just around every corner. There is no escape. The Gordon brothers are towering over you, pointing their water guns at you; somehow they got ahold of the biggest, most expensive brand of water gun out there. You shrink back with fear and Malo smiles darkly. "Pay up or die," he says, and you drop your tiny pathetic squirt gun to empty your pockets. Once the money has been safely received, they blast you anyway and laugh at your retreating back).

Finally, there are Ashei and Shad (nobody invited them, but Ashei smelled chaos and dragged Shad into the fray. They're doing well and everyone's trying to avoid them; they're formidable, a good mix of brains and brawn, and Shad gets surprisingly into the game. He ties his soaked t-shirt around his head as a headband and charges after Talo and Beth with a war cry. Ashei just laughs behind his back).

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 **II: Truce**

Everyone calls a truce when Rusl lugs a cooler full of popsicles into the yard, and Uli follows with lemonade and her daughter Sarah balanced on her hip. Eventually the famished troops demand sustenance, and she makes a plate of sandwiches. After the second round, however, she gives up and leaves out the bread and the ingredients, letting them make their own sandwiches until they finally eat their fill. They all hang out until dark, when they push Link to get permission to light the fire pit. Ashei and Shad go on a run for s'more ingredients and glow sticks, and they stay up past midnight, probably, just enjoying themselves. (Well, with the exception of Luda, who has a curfew, and Malo's team went home long ago to split their earnings: Malo gets 70% and the Gordon bros. can split the remaining 30% between them). Beth falls asleep on Talo's shoulder and somehow Zelda has glow bracelets all up her arms and two glowsticks are linked in a circlet around her head. Midna pops two orange glowsticks around her ankles and Link puts a green one around his neck and they chase each other around the yard in the dark, their glowing adornments blurring in the shadows, their laughter distant and gleeful.

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 **III: Sleepover**

When one a.m. hits Uli orders everyone home, but the clamor of complaint is so loud eventually Zelda invites them to camp out in her basement for the night, provided they don't make too much of a racket. Uli wants Colin and his friends to stay at home, but Zelda assures her nothing bad will happen, so she reluctantly agrees. They stay up all night watching movies (Flushed Away, Shrek 3 and some weird documentary on sea turtles make up the extent of Zelda's DVD collection she's willing to share). In the middle of the second movie Ashei and Shad notice the GameCube collecting dust beside the Wii and hook it up to the smaller TV in the corner, and soon there's a way-too-involved game of Mario Party 7 going on, and the movie is mostly forgotten by all but Shad and Zelda (who are the ones who put in the turtle documentary until the chaos around the other TV becomes too loud and they give up on it). Zelda eventually gives up on her guests going to bed at any decent hour and falls asleep on the couch. Link sits at her feet and makes sure no one tries to bury her in stuffed animals (because apparently that happened once, at a prior sleepover). Midna proceeds to wreck everybody at Mario Party, and they're determined to get revenge, so they challenge her to a round of Monopoly. She wins that, too, at which point the ruckus gets so loud Zelda half wakes up and mutters in an eerily quiet voice that she's going to murder them all if they don't shut the fuck up, right now. Startled by the princess's use of profanity, the mob shuts the fuck up, right then, and gathers a pile of blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals (no one tries to bury anybody, thankfully) to make an awesome fort in which to bed down and tell ghost stories. Link opts out of the storytelling and takes up residence in an old but still mostly comfortable recliner, keeping a watchful eye on Zelda until Midna emerges from the fort to check in on him. At this point the recliner is no longer comfortable (it's old, and there are weird hard places where the cushion is worn out), so Link finally follows Midna into the fort and falls asleep in a tangle of arms and legs. Everyone eventually nods off, except for Ashei, an experienced all-nighter, who sits in the corner on her phone when everyone falls asleep. (It ought to be noted that Midna would ordinarily rival Ashei in her ability to stay awake, but Link fell asleep on her shoulder and he was so soft and warm and stupidly adorable that she leaned her head against his and eventually succumbed to sleep herself.)

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 **IV: Morning**

They wake up to the smell of pancakes, and they stumble groggily into the kitchen to find Zelda at the stove, muttering a bit to herself, a few dying glowstick bracelets still dangling from her arms as she flips pancakes, cinnamon and blueberry and chocolate chip (she draws the line at those three options, and no, she's not putting cheese in them, god, that's awful, who suggested that?). She provides four kinds of syrup to appease the masses (maple, chocolate, blueberry, and strawberry) and eventually claims a seat by the window to eat a pile of chocolate chip pancakes, leaving Link to struggle with the cooking until Colin rescues him (proving rather skilled at culinary arts; everyone agrees that, no offense, he's a better pancake flipper than Zelda, and he should be the team's official cook from now on). Midna digs around in the fridge and finds a package of bacon, which no one knows how to cook, so they send the package to Uli with Colin, who returns some minutes later with a plate of bacon. Midna claims all the crunchy pieces and snags the chewy ones for Link, declaring that as champion of both Mario Party and Monopoly, she has first dibs to the breakfast meat. Beth sits at an empty plate for a while before Zelda notices, disappears into the pantry, and returns with a box of cereal for the unlucky girl who doesn't like pancakes (or this recipe, at least).

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 **V: Music**

As everyone's finishing their meal, Zelda leaves the room and a few moments later the sound of piano playing drifts in from the living room. Everyone bundles out there, they didn't know she could play, and soon they're requesting songs left and right. She blushes and protests that she can only play by ear and she doesn't know all these songs, so Ashei queues them up on her phone so Zelda can pick out the melodies on her piano. Some songs she's familiar with and she can improvise the left hand harmony, and she's surprisingly good. Meanwhile Midna's taken control of the Wii U she noticed sitting by the TV across the room, casually playing Smash Bros. against some poor schmucks on the Internet. "Take that, Mewtwo," is often heard from her direction when Zelda's playing doesn't drown it out.

The atmosphere is a cheerful one, still heavy with sleep, and the smell of pancakes hangs in the air. Colin's on his phone texting Luda updates since she couldn't sleep over. Ashei perches on the end of the piano bench watching Zelda intently, while Shad instructs Talo (with Beth watching) on how to escape the Chinese finger trap they found under the couch. Link admires Zelda's extensive amiibo collection (where the heck did she get a Marth? and he could've sworn Zero Suit Samus wasn't even out yet), and then he wanders over to the couch and watches Midna play Smash and marvels at her ability. Eventually she gets bored and just contents herself with listening to Zelda's playing until somehow two o'clock rolls around (which isn't that surprising when they remember they got up around noon) and Uli's calling, wondering where her bacon plate went and will someone tell her son to come home already, and send his friends home, too, their parents called.

With that the party's over, and everyone reluctantly files out of Zelda's house. She gets up from the piano bench to see them go, and they make her promise to host another sleepover sometime soon. She seems a little surprised but smiles and accepts, her face red with a blush of embarrassment and pleasure. Midna and Link are the last to leave; Midna scoops Link up in a bridal-style hold and bounds across the street to deliver him to his door (which a surprised Rusl answers). A brief kiss and she's dashing down the street, going home, waving, and there are orange glowsticks on her ankles.

Link smiles, a bit overwhelmed by it all, and goes right back to bed.

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 **A/N: Surprise! I wrote another one!**

 **I've decided to turn this into a collection for all the drabbles I write for this AU. And since JimmyDANj2 inspired me with some great reviews, there will probably be a good number of these before summer ends. Ganondorf might even show up. Who knows. Just prepare for a lot of shenanigans, and maybe even a little angst. I have a lot planned for these three.**

 **As for this chapter, I actually wrote it shortly after writing You, but I wasn't too sure about posting it until, again, a couple reviews inspired me to clean it up a little and put it out there.**

 **Thanks for loving these goofy kids as much as I do!**

 **.**

 **Eternally yours,**

 **godtierGrammarian**


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